Pulverulent material treating apparatus



March 9, 1937. -rs 2,073,549

PULVERULENT MATERIAL TREATING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 18, 1936 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 9, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PULVERULENT MATERIAL TREATING APPARATUS 1 Claim.

This invention relates to an ore mill apparatus for the treatment of tailings and has for the primary object the provision of an economical means to receive and treat tailings to form the latter into a mass which, when mixed with gravel, forms an excellent road surfacing material and may be stored for periods of time without danger of disintegrating or breaking up into small particles and blowing or washing away into streams, and consequently eliminates stream pollution by tailings from mills.

With these and other objects in view, this invention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a vertical sectional view illustrating an apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view partly in section illustrating a spray nozzle.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral l indicates a suitable tank mounted on a supporting structure 2 and provided with an inclined bottom 3, the inclination of which is in the direction of a discharge opening 4 provided with a control gate 5. The top of the tank is equipped with a vent pipe 6 controlled by a damper l. The tank is also provided with a manhole 8 normally closed by a removable cover 9.

Leading to the upper portion of the tank is a conveyor tube In and extends from a mill for the purpose of delivering fine particles of tailings into the tank I. A power driven fan I l is located in the tube l0 for forcing by air pressure the tailings into the tank. An endless conveyor I2 leading from the mill (not shown) extends into the tank and is employed for conveying into said tank larger particles of tailings which could not be successfully passed into the tank by the con-' veyor tube [0. A hood I3 is arranged in the tank over the discharge end of the endless conveyor l2 for directing the tailings discharged by the tube Ill away from the discharge end of the endless conveyor.

A reservoir I4 is adapted to receive crude oil with a diluting agent such as gasoline or kerosene by way of a filling neck IS. A power driven agitator l6 operates in the reservoir for thoroughly mixing the oil therein. An air supply pipe I! leads into the reservoir from an air pressure source (not shown). An outlet pipe l8 extends from the reservoir upwardly to a point adjacent the upper end of the tank I and is equipped with a jet l9 extending into a mixing chamber 20 located at the upper end of the tank and to which is connected a spray nozzle 2| in the form of a coil having a series of perforations formed in the underside thereof so that the liquid and air discharging will be in a downward direction with respect to the tank I. The jet I9 is provided with a regulating valve 22 and the inlet pipe l8 has a control valve 23. An air supply pipe 24 leading from the air supply is connected to the mixing chamber 20 and has a control valve 25.

In operation, tailings from a mill are fed into the tank I by both of the conveyors or either and at the same time the oil mixture of the reservoir passes into the tank I in the form of a mist or vapor causing the tailings to become impregnated therewith and settle to the bottom of the tank in a mass, which after a period of time may be removed by opening the gate 5. Any gases or back pressure accumulating in the tank may escape by Way of the vent 6. The oil mixture from the reservoir is delivered to the mixing chamber 20 in an atomized state by the jet l9 and the mixing chamber receives air under pressure forcing the vaporized oil through the coiled distributing pipe and escapes therefrom in a downward direction. The tailings after being treated in the tank I and removed-therefrom may be stored for a period of time without danger of breaking up or blowing away or washing away. The tailings in the mass formation when mixed with gravel will provide an excellent road sur-v facing material.

Having described the invention, I claim:

An apparatus for treating ore tailings comprising a tank, discharge means for said tank, vent means for said tank, pneumatic and endless conveyors connected to said tank for delivering tailings of different grades into said tank with one grade of tailings delivered into the tank above the other grade of tailings, a mixing chamber extending into the upper end of the tank above said conveyors, a jet extending into said mixing 

